odd usages in _Mister Roberts_

[Jonathan Lighter]

Neither usage appears in Heggen's novel (1946) or in the stage play he
co-scripted with Joshua Logan.

JL

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 6:06 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: odd usages in _Mister Roberts_
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Dan, the GB snippets don't turn them up in either the novel or the play,
> bu=
> t
> that isn't conclusive. Amazon won't even give me a look
>
> If no one has a copy of the novel at their fingertips, I'll check in the
> libe later this week.
> JL
>  On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 4:46 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: odd usages in _Mister Roberts_
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > "Seventeen hundred fifty hours," rather. "1750" ("Seventeen fifty," I
> > assume) sounds like the English translation of the time as given on
> > German civilian radio. in the '60's.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 9:53 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      odd usages in _Mister Roberts_
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >
> > > I noticed two very odd usages in the 1955 film _Mister Roberts_,
> > screenplay
> > > by Frank S. Nugent and Joshua Logan.
> > >
> > > The writers have a Navy officer in 1945 casually referring to 5:50 p.m.
> > as
> > > "eighteen hundred minus ten" instead of "seventeen fifty."
> > >
> > > And head nurse Lieut. Girard addresses her female staff as "Men!" Of
> > course,
> > > this may just be a joke.
> > >
> > > Both the movie and the play which preceded it are based on the novel by
> > > Thomas Heggen (1918-1949).  Unlike Nugent and Logan, Heggen was a navy
> > > veteran of WWII.
> > >
> > > When the film came out, the NYT described the play as a "cherished
> work=
> ."
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > =96=96=96
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint
> t=
> o
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > =96Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --=20
>  "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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